How to adjust Page Margins in MS Word

If you look at the ruler bar on the left of your screen, you'll see grey areas at the top and bottom of the left ruler, and a white area in the middle. The grey areas are your top and bottom margins. There are a number of ways you can adjust your page margins in Microsoft Word.

(If you can't see a ruler on the left hand side, from the menu click on View. From the drop down list, select Print Layout.)

We'll adjust the Top margin for our report. The ruler bar on the left of the screen currently looks like this:

As you can see, there's a grey area to the left, and underneath a white area. The white areas have numbers in them. If you trace your finger from the bottom of the grey area across and to "Constable Tucker's Crime" you'll find they match up exactly. This is the top of our page. You can't move your cursor above the white area an into the grey. But you can change the size of the grey area, and therefore your top margin.

There are a couple of ways you can change your margins in Microsoft Word. We'll start with the tricky way!

• 
  
  Move your mouse pointer half way between the grey area and the white area


• 
  
  Your mouse pointer will change to the shape of a double arrow

• 
  
  Next, hold down your left mouse button


• 
  
  Your screen should now look like this

• 
  
  Notice the thin dashed line running across the page. This is your current top margin


• 
  
  With your left mouse still held down drag your mouse downwards


• 
  
  The thin dashed line will move with your mouse


• 
  
  Let go of your mouse button when you see a 5 at the top of the grey area

Before you let go of the mouse button:

After you let go of the mouse button:

Notice how our top margin has jumped down. We now have a bigger gap at the top, and therefore more space.

Another way to change your page margins is via the Page Setup dialogue box. Try the following:

 

 

1. From the menu bar, click on File


2. When the menu drops down, choose Page Setup


3. You should get the following dialogue box

 

 

1. As you can see, you can set the Top, Bottom, left, and right margins from here


2. Click inside the Top text box, the one highlighted and with 2.54cm in it


3. Use your backspace key to get rid of the 2.54cm


4. Type in the number 5


5. Click the OK button


6. This will give you a top margin of 5 centimetres.

Change all the margins of your report so that they are the following

Left 3 cm
Right 4 cm
Top 5 cm
Bottom 3 cm

And that's all there is to it! In the next section, we'll look at some Cut, Copy and Paste techniques. Before we leave this section, one extra piece about Tabs.

Remember how you set out the address for Review number one? You used right alignment. So your address looked like this:

Mr Irate
12 High Street
Evercrease
EV1 EV1

If you wanted the left side of the address in a straight line, you could use tabs.

1. Highlight the address


2. Click the left align icon to set the address back to the left hand side


3. Click Format > Tabs


4. Enter a tab stop position and click the Set button


5. Then click OK


6. Position your cursor at the start of each line


7. Press the tab key on your key board

The result is this style of address:

                                                                                                                                  Mr Irate
12 High Street
Evercrease
EV1 EV1

Another way to change your page margins is via the Page Setup dialogue box. Try the following:     From the menu bar, click on File When the menu drops down, choose Page Setup You should get the following dialogue box     As you can see, you can set the Top, Bottom, left, and right margins from here Click inside the Top text box, the one highlighted and with 2.54cm in it Use your backspace key to get rid of the 2.54cm Type in the number 5 Click the OK button This will give you a top margin of 5 centimetres. Change all the margins of your report so that they are the following Left 3 cm Right 4 cm Top 5 cm Bottom 3 cm And that's all there is to it! In the next section, we'll look at some Cut, Copy and Paste techniques. Before we leave this section, one extra piece about Tabs. Remember how you set out the address for Review number one? You used right alignment. So your address looked like this: Mr Irate 12 High Street Evercrease EV1 EV1 If you wanted the left side of the address in a straight line, you could use tabs.     Highlight the address Click the left align icon to set the address back to the left hand side Click Format > Tabs Enter a tab stop position and click the Set button Then click OK Position your cursor at the start of each line Press the tab key on your key board The result is this style of address:
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	Mr Irate 12 High Street Evercrease EV1 EV1